Everybody was teleported right away to the lair in order to stitch up everyone’s cuts. Yixing was waiting in the living room and he had already prepared everything not to waste time. He had sent Jinho upstairs in his room so he wouldn’t see the disaster. The badly injured ones were immediately sent to Yixing. That’s how Sunggyu, Woohyun, Ravi, Myungsoo, Sungjong, Kyungsoo, Kai and Sehun ended up queuing to receive the healer’s treatment.

“You should go too” you urged Jimin, whose wrist was still prisoner of your fingers.

Since earlier, you kept sticking to him. You would hold his wrist, his hand, or sometimes even put a palm behind his back, just to check if he was still next to you. At the beginning, he felt like there was something wrong with you because you weren’t the type to do such things at all. It was as if you were scared he might part away and leave somewhere. He didn’t really understand but he was far from complaining about it. Usually, you would just pinch his cheek to make fun of him and call him an “idiot” or even hit him when it was his turn to mock you. Well, it was normal things to do between childhood friends after all. Friends… How much he despised this word. How much he disliked when you used it to define your relationship. But there was another one he hated even more…

“Hell no. I don’t want him to use his tricks on me.” He wanted to cross his arms in reflex but that one action snatched him a painful wince.

“You stubborn idiot” you shook your head in dismay, glancing at the miserable scene he was offering.

“You’re the stupid one here. And I’m not an idiot !” he yelled back, obviously miffed about your heartless remark concerning his behavior. He was being stubborn. He perfectly knew it. But usually you were the one to take care of his cuts. He didn’t want a stranger to lay a single finger on his injuries. Even if the very stranger happened to be… a nice guy. As much as it cost him to admit it, Yixing was indeed a kind person. All of a sudden, Jimin felt someone’s hard punch on the back of his head, next to his already injured spot.

“The stupid girl is right; you’re definitely the biggest idiot I have ever met. At least, you’re good at something.” Ravi sent him an innocent toothy grin while walking next to you, casually throwing his arm around your shoulders. “Though I don’t think you can impress anyone with this lame skill of yours…”

“Do you really want to die?!” Jimin growled furiously while stepping forward to the elder. You quickly put a hand on each boy’s chest and parted them away from each other before fists could fly all around. It’s not like it never happened before…

“I’m not stupid.” You rebuked Ravi gently “and stop hitting Jimin or I’ll kick your before he does it” you warned with a pointed look.

“I’m waiting forward to that day, sweetie…” he winked at you before planting a kiss on your cheek and turning around. He stopped for a second and dropped an “I didn’t forget the little conversation you owe me …” before walking away.

“I swear… This jerk. He seriously get on my nerves” Jimin grunted while clenching his fist and glaring at Ravi who was a few meters away already.

“Look at who’s talking” you chuckled “Don’t mind him. That’s what you told me. He is just being an annoying ‘bastard’ ” you smiled and patted his head gently.

“Do you love bastards so much, then?!” he scoffed incredulously, shaking his head in obvious dismay. The fact he had raised his voice made you blink in confusion. You instantly let your hand fall to your side, shocked by this sudden outburst. He saw your taken aback expression and felt like slapping himself really hard. Not knowing what to do, he rubbed the back of his neck and pointed into Yixing’s direction. Once you nodded, he walked away to wait for his turn, leaving you standing in the living room’s entrance awkwardly.

*Did I say something wrong?* you wondered inwardly.

That’s when a rather loud howl resounded. You darted your head towards the window which displayed the emerging darkness from the evening. For a second, everyone stopped what they were doing to look at you, as if they were waiting for you to explain anything.  

“Saja?” Sungyeol asked you with a raised eyebrow, breaking the questioning silence.

“Definitely no.” you narrowed your eyes. Another howl echoed through the forest and you couldn’t repress the cold shivers that ran down your spine. “This one is an Alpha”

You hurriedly walked towards a door in a corner of the living room which gave access to a rather big balcony thanks to a wooden staircase outside the house. Once you had climbed the several stairs, you took a hold of the wooden barrier while gazing at the forest displaying its magnitude due to your high spot, almost at the roof’s level. You didn’t know why but you felt like he was calling for you. You waited for another signal so you would be able to localize the wolf’s position but it remained dead silent. You sighed heavily. You didn’t have any other choice. You took a deep breath and raised your hands to cup your mouth. You howled back loudly enough for the Alpha to hear your answer but respectfully lowered your tone at the end to show him you were listening to his response. A thing you had learned from Saja.

Soon enough, your shaky breathing added to the fresh breeze was the only thing that prevented the atmosphere to fall completely silent. Your ears instinctively perked up as you patiently waited for your call to be replied. A minute passed by. You began to think you had imagined everything. Letting out a sigh you didn’t know you were holding, you started to go down the stairs. As you were passing the living room’s door, your body froze on the threshold while a deafening and urging howl made its way to your ear. Your hand, still resting on the doorknob tightened its grip around it. Your eyes widened in realization. You didn’t know how it was possible but you understood what the wolf seemed to scream out loud. You slowly looked up and met eyes with everybody in the room. When your limbs were able to move again, you angrily crashed the door close and rushed to the window. You gazed outside and indeed, he wasn’t here. With an incredulous scoff, you turned around to them.

“Don’t tell me you let him there while being injured?” you asked rhetorically and a dangerous spark flashed in your eyes.

Due to your exhaustion from earlier, you only had a blurry and vague memory of what went on around you as everybody got teleported back to the lair. You thought Saja just got brought back along with everyone. You were so wrong.

“Wait… who are you talking about?” Chen inquired, clueless. His eyes were narrowed and his nose pinched. You recognized confusion. Your eyes twitched at the innocent question. Pinching the upper part of your nose in frustration, you slowly breathed in and out with your eyes closed to calm you down. You could hear a weird vibrating sound in your back but you were too out of it to notice its precise source. You tried to hold back your anger as much as you could but you knew you had reached your breaking point. The unfairness of the situation had already gotten to you.

“What the hell!” You yelled while finally opening your lids again.

And at that precise moment, the window behind you shattered. It literally flew to pieces. You let your eyes wandered on the North Circle’s faces and their expressions flinched strangely under your silent scolding. With a sigh, you shook your head to snap out of your angry state. Because now wasn’t time to discuss things. You took a hold of yourself again and realized the only thing you could think of was to hurry.

“… Kai?” you called the boy with a hazy voice.

“…Yes?” he answered hesitantly, obviously apprehending what was going to follow.

“Would you mind coming along with me?” you asked him while staring at him straight in the eyes this time. He looked surprised but nodded nonetheless.

“Yeah, sure.” He smiled.

“I’m—”

“…Staying here” you ended Jimin sentence, cutting him in his words as you perfectly knew what he was going to say. He remained silent for a few seconds and then walked over to Yixing, who immediately knew what the other was silently asking. With a smile, he hovered the boy’s injuries with his hand. A soft blue light appeared from his palm as he healed the worst ones. The Jäger nodded thankfully at the Jianhuren and made its way to you with a serious expression.

“You never listen, right?” your raised an eyebrow.

“Neither do you” he replied back what snatched you a tiny smile despite the situation.

You then turned your heels, followed by the two boys, and headed to the hall where the front door was, before reaching the knob. All of a sudden, something triggered in your head. You might need something, just in case the situation was worse than you imagined it to be. You quickly extended your palm and before you could ask somebody to throw it to you, one of the aid kits appeared in your hand like magic. You looked at it weirdly and your eyes landed on Luhan soon after.

“Thanks” you muttered awkwardly, surprised by his unexpected action before avoiding his gaze and being engulfed in the upcoming night.

The silence that followed the slamming of the door was heavy.

“Luhan” Suho blurted out, speaking out loud what everyone was inwardly wondering “the first aid kit… is it your doing?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

A few nerve-wrecking silent seconds went by when Luhan finally decided to answer.

“No, it’s not.”

“Did everyone see her eyes just now?”  Sehun exclaimed wide-eyed.

“Hm. Icy blue.” Xiumin replied, nodding his head thoughtfully.

Silence. That’s what filled everyone’s ears at the moment. Pure silence. For different reasons. Incomprehension. Disbelief. Confusion. Curiosity.

“I think I know what’s happening…” Suho declared in all seriousness.

***